Reading Comprehension

Which of the following statements is true in relation to paramis?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Moment– to – moment awareness – that is one accurate way to describe the great enterprise of becoming free. But there are other valid ways to characterize our path. In the broadest conception of the path, in the vast context of spiritual practice, we cultivate and nourish certain qualities that support and propel us forward into freedom. The Pali word ‘parami ‘refers to ten wholesome qualities in our minds and the accumulated power they bring to us: generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, energy, patience, truthfulness, resolve, loving kindness, and equanimity.

The fact that we do not often find the word grace used by schools of Buddhism may allow us to connect with a fresh and immediate sense of the word by looking directly at our own experience. I feel that the paramis are one great influence in our experience that corresponds to the sense of grace, not as a theological doctrine or metaphysical concept but as something we can really feel and know.

The concept of parami reminds me of a line in a poem by Dylan Thomas: “The force that through the green fuse drives the flower.” Parami does not come from some being outside ourselves; rather, it comes from our own gradually accumulated purity. A Buddhist understanding of reliance on a higher power would not necessarily involve reliance on some supernormal being. It is, rather, a reliance on these forces of purity in ourselves that are outside our small, constricted sense of I, and that constitute the source of grace in our lives.

In the long course of evolution in this lifetime and perhaps over many lifetimes, we have generated a power of purity in our mind by acts of generosity and loving kindness, by deepening understanding and wisdom. This power becomes the karmic force that brings blessings in our life. So our own inner development, not an external agent, brings us this grace. Develop and strengthen the paramis within you, and from that source enjoy the blessings that result.

A poem by Galway Kinnell beautifully expresses the grace of blessings from within:

What is the Path?
Saint Francis and the Sow 
The bud 
stands for all things, 
even for those things that don’t flower, 
for everything flowers, from within, of self–blessing;
as Saint Francis 
put his hand on the creased forehead 
of the sow, and told her in words and in touch 
blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow 
began remembering all down her thick length, 
from the earthen snout all the way 
through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail, 
from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine 
down through the great broken heart 
to the sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering 
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and 
blowing beneath them: 
the long, perfect loveliness of sow.

Freedom cannot be found within the contraction of ego identification. The practice of Buddhadharma awakens us to an underlying reality beyond that identification. As the paramis develop through our practice – and they have been developing over lifetimes – we experience an emergence of something called dhammoja in Pali, the essence of Dharma. In deepening meditation practice, we drop out of the conceptual realm into an energy flow of awareness. Dhammoja is this energy that keeps pushing us to liberation. It is something greater than our limited sense of self.

I had a strong experience of dhammoja during one of my periods of practice in Burma. I had been in Asia for several months and was rapidly losing weight and physical strength. At one point my body became so weak that I would actually topple over from my sitting position. But even in this very weakened bodily condition, the energy from the inner flow of awareness remained so strong that the meditation continued to unfold. It was as if nothing could stop the onward–leading momentum. This experience reminded me of those stories of the Buddha visiting people who were sick or dying. He would often say to them, “Though your body is weak and full of pain, train your mind to stay alert and mindful.” A taste of dhammoja shows us that we can actually do what the Buddha advised.

Another understanding of grace comes from the Buddhist world view that recognizes beings on other planes of existence. In traditional Buddhist cultures people believe that devas, or celestial beings from higher planes, can work to protect, guide, and help us in different situations. The Buddha taught that devas are drawn to us through the power of our virtue and loving kindness. As we cultivate and purify our own morality and love, we open ourselves to receive their positive energy and beneficent help.

You may or may not choose to believe this aspect of Buddhist cosmology. Our freedom does not depend on external things. You can come to full liberation whether or not you find devas credible. But a phrase from Coleridge might suggest a useful attitude: the willing suspension of disbelief. Can we remain open to possibilities of things we do not yet know for ourselves, with neither blind belief nor blind disbelief? Many things that today seem commonplace in our world, one hundred years ago would have been called miracles.

Although strong hidden influences, given the right conditions, can assist us, they cannot accomplish the work of spiritual practice for us. The beneficence of external beings like devas is secondary to the inwardly developed, liberating force of dhammoja and the paramis.

Reflecting on our own paramis can be a great help in practice. The force of delusion is so strong that most beings never see the possibility of coming out of suffering. The very notion that the mind can be purified of greed, hatred, and delusion never even occurs to most people. Only a vast reservoir of parami brings us to practice and creates the motivation and interest to do this difficult, ultimately liberating work. Appreciating the paramis within ourselves can be a cause for great self–respect and joy. Often, in the midst of the many ups and downs of practice, we forget just how powerful the paramis are in each one of us. They engender true grace in our lives.

Classical dons praise Aristotle for his fidelity to observation, this statement in the passage indicates ________.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Man, It would seem has descended from arboreal apes. They lived a happy life in tropical forests, eating coconuts when they were hungry, and throwing them at each other when they were not. They were perpetually occupied in gymnastics, and acquired an agility that, to us, is truly, astonishing. But after some millions of years of this arboreal paradise, their numbers increased to the point where the supply of coconuts was no longer adequate. The population problem set in, and was dealt with in two different ways: those who lived in the middle of the forest learned to throw coconuts with such accuracy as to disable adversaries, whose consequent death relieved the pressure of population, but those who lived on the edge of the forest found another method; they looked out over the fields and discovered that they yielded delicious fruits of various kinds quite as pleasant as coconuts, and gradually they came down from the trees and spent more and more time in the open on the ground. They soon discovered that if you live on the ground it is easy to soul, which are more effective missiles than coconuts.

I am not myself in any degree ashamed of having changed my opinions. What physicist who was already active in 1900 would dream of boasting that his opinions had not changed during the last half century? In science men change their opinions when new knowledge becomes available, but philosophy in the minds of many is assimilated rather to theology than to science. A theologian proclaims eternal truths, the creeds remain unchanged since the Council of Nicea. Where nobody knows anything, there is no point in changing your mind.

Owing to the identification of religion with virtue, together with the fact that the most religious men are not the most intelligent, a religious education gives courage to the stupid to resist the authority of educated men, as has happened, for example, where the teaching of evolution has been made illegal. So far I can remember there is not own word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence; and in this respect ministers of religion follow gospel authority more closely than in some other.

If you think that your belief is based upon reason, you will support it by argument, rather than by persecution, and will abandon it if the argument goes against you. But if your belief is based on faith, you will realise that argument is useless, and will therefore resort to force either in the form of persecution or by stunting and distorting the minds of the young in what is called education. This last is peculiarly dastardly, since it takes advantage of the defenselessness of immature minds. Unfortunately it is practised in a greater or less degree in the school of every civilised country.

Punctuality is a quality the need of which is bound up with social cooperation. It has nothing to do with the relation of the soul to God or with mystic insight, or with any of the mailers with which the more elevated and spiritual moralists are concerned. One would be surprised to find a saint getting drunk, but one would not be surprised to find him late for an engagement. And yet in the ordinary business of life punctuality is absolutely necessary.

To modern educated people, it seems obvious that matters of fact are to be ascertained by observation, not by consulting ancient authorities. But this is an entirely modern conception, which hardly existed before the seventeenth century. Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths. He said also that children would be healthier if conceived when the wind is in the north. One gathers that the two Mrs. Aristotles both had to run out and look at the weathercock every evening before going to bed. He states that a man bitten by a mad dog will not go mad, but any other animal will: that the bite of the shrew mouse is dangerous to horses, especially if the mouse is pregnant; that elephants suffering from insomnia can be cured by rubbing their shoulders with salt, olive oil, and warm water; and so on and so on. Nevertheless, classical dons, who have never observed any animal except the cat and the dog, continue to praise Aristotle for his fidelity to observation.

It is not altogether true that persuasion is one thing and force is another. Many forms of persuasion – even many of which everybody approves - are really a kind of force. Consider what we do to our children. We do not say to them: 'Some people think the earth is round, and others think it flat; when you grow up, you can, if you like, examine the evidence and form your own conclusion. 'Instead of this we say; ' The earth is round.' By the time our children are old enough to examine the evidence, our propaganda has closed their minds, and the most persuasive arguments of the Flat Earth Society make no impression. The same applies to the moral precepts that we consider really important, such as 'don't pick your nose' or 'don't eat peas with a knife'. There may, for aught I know, be admirable reasons for eating peas with a knife, but the hypnotic effect of early persuasion has made me completely incapable of appreciating them.

In universities, mathematics is taught mainly to men who are going to teach mathematics to men who are going to teach mathematics to...Sometimes, it is true, there is an escape from this treadmill. Archimedes used mathematics to kill Romans, Galileo to improve the Grand Duke of Tuscany's artillery, modern physicists (grown more ambitious) to exterminate the human race. It is usually on this account that the study of mathematics is commended to the general public as worthy of State support.

Which of the following options could be an appropriate title for the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Moment– to – moment awareness – that is one accurate way to describe the great enterprise of becoming free. But there are other valid ways to characterize our path. In the broadest conception of the path, in the vast context of spiritual practice, we cultivate and nourish certain qualities that support and propel us forward into freedom. The Pali word ‘parami ‘refers to ten wholesome qualities in our minds and the accumulated power they bring to us: generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, energy, patience, truthfulness, resolve, loving kindness, and equanimity.

The fact that we do not often find the word grace used by schools of Buddhism may allow us to connect with a fresh and immediate sense of the word by looking directly at our own experience. I feel that the paramis are one great influence in our experience that corresponds to the sense of grace, not as a theological doctrine or metaphysical concept but as something we can really feel and know.

The concept of parami reminds me of a line in a poem by Dylan Thomas: “The force that through the green fuse drives the flower.” Parami does not come from some being outside ourselves; rather, it comes from our own gradually accumulated purity. A Buddhist understanding of reliance on a higher power would not necessarily involve reliance on some supernormal being. It is, rather, a reliance on these forces of purity in ourselves that are outside our small, constricted sense of I, and that constitute the source of grace in our lives.

In the long course of evolution in this lifetime and perhaps over many lifetimes, we have generated a power of purity in our mind by acts of generosity and loving kindness, by deepening understanding and wisdom. This power becomes the karmic force that brings blessings in our life. So our own inner development, not an external agent, brings us this grace. Develop and strengthen the paramis within you, and from that source enjoy the blessings that result.

A poem by Galway Kinnell beautifully expresses the grace of blessings from within:

What is the Path?
Saint Francis and the Sow 
The bud 
stands for all things, 
even for those things that don’t flower, 
for everything flowers, from within, of self–blessing;
as Saint Francis 
put his hand on the creased forehead 
of the sow, and told her in words and in touch 
blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow 
began remembering all down her thick length, 
from the earthen snout all the way 
through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail, 
from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine 
down through the great broken heart 
to the sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering 
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and 
blowing beneath them: 
the long, perfect loveliness of sow.

Freedom cannot be found within the contraction of ego identification. The practice of Buddhadharma awakens us to an underlying reality beyond that identification. As the paramis develop through our practice – and they have been developing over lifetimes – we experience an emergence of something called dhammoja in Pali, the essence of Dharma. In deepening meditation practice, we drop out of the conceptual realm into an energy flow of awareness. Dhammoja is this energy that keeps pushing us to liberation. It is something greater than our limited sense of self.

I had a strong experience of dhammoja during one of my periods of practice in Burma. I had been in Asia for several months and was rapidly losing weight and physical strength. At one point my body became so weak that I would actually topple over from my sitting position. But even in this very weakened bodily condition, the energy from the inner flow of awareness remained so strong that the meditation continued to unfold. It was as if nothing could stop the onward–leading momentum. This experience reminded me of those stories of the Buddha visiting people who were sick or dying. He would often say to them, “Though your body is weak and full of pain, train your mind to stay alert and mindful.” A taste of dhammoja shows us that we can actually do what the Buddha advised.

Another understanding of grace comes from the Buddhist world view that recognizes beings on other planes of existence. In traditional Buddhist cultures people believe that devas, or celestial beings from higher planes, can work to protect, guide, and help us in different situations. The Buddha taught that devas are drawn to us through the power of our virtue and loving kindness. As we cultivate and purify our own morality and love, we open ourselves to receive their positive energy and beneficent help.

You may or may not choose to believe this aspect of Buddhist cosmology. Our freedom does not depend on external things. You can come to full liberation whether or not you find devas credible. But a phrase from Coleridge might suggest a useful attitude: the willing suspension of disbelief. Can we remain open to possibilities of things we do not yet know for ourselves, with neither blind belief nor blind disbelief? Many things that today seem commonplace in our world, one hundred years ago would have been called miracles.

Although strong hidden influences, given the right conditions, can assist us, they cannot accomplish the work of spiritual practice for us. The beneficence of external beings like devas is secondary to the inwardly developed, liberating force of dhammoja and the paramis.

Reflecting on our own paramis can be a great help in practice. The force of delusion is so strong that most beings never see the possibility of coming out of suffering. The very notion that the mind can be purified of greed, hatred, and delusion never even occurs to most people. Only a vast reservoir of parami brings us to practice and creates the motivation and interest to do this difficult, ultimately liberating work. Appreciating the paramis within ourselves can be a cause for great self–respect and joy. Often, in the midst of the many ups and downs of practice, we forget just how powerful the paramis are in each one of us. They engender true grace in our lives.

The bud and the sow are symbols of _______.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Moment– to – moment awareness – that is one accurate way to describe the great enterprise of becoming free. But there are other valid ways to characterize our path. In the broadest conception of the path, in the vast context of spiritual practice, we cultivate and nourish certain qualities that support and propel us forward into freedom. The Pali word ‘parami ‘refers to ten wholesome qualities in our minds and the accumulated power they bring to us: generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, energy, patience, truthfulness, resolve, loving kindness, and equanimity.

The fact that we do not often find the word grace used by schools of Buddhism may allow us to connect with a fresh and immediate sense of the word by looking directly at our own experience. I feel that the paramis are one great influence in our experience that corresponds to the sense of grace, not as a theological doctrine or metaphysical concept but as something we can really feel and know.

The concept of parami reminds me of a line in a poem by Dylan Thomas: “The force that through the green fuse drives the flower.” Parami does not come from some being outside ourselves; rather, it comes from our own gradually accumulated purity. A Buddhist understanding of reliance on a higher power would not necessarily involve reliance on some supernormal being. It is, rather, a reliance on these forces of purity in ourselves that are outside our small, constricted sense of I, and that constitute the source of grace in our lives.

In the long course of evolution in this lifetime and perhaps over many lifetimes, we have generated a power of purity in our mind by acts of generosity and loving kindness, by deepening understanding and wisdom. This power becomes the karmic force that brings blessings in our life. So our own inner development, not an external agent, brings us this grace. Develop and strengthen the paramis within you, and from that source enjoy the blessings that result.

A poem by Galway Kinnell beautifully expresses the grace of blessings from within:

What is the Path?
Saint Francis and the Sow 
The bud 
stands for all things, 
even for those things that don’t flower, 
for everything flowers, from within, of self–blessing;
as Saint Francis 
put his hand on the creased forehead 
of the sow, and told her in words and in touch 
blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow 
began remembering all down her thick length, 
from the earthen snout all the way 
through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail, 
from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine 
down through the great broken heart 
to the sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering 
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and 
blowing beneath them: 
the long, perfect loveliness of sow.

Freedom cannot be found within the contraction of ego identification. The practice of Buddhadharma awakens us to an underlying reality beyond that identification. As the paramis develop through our practice – and they have been developing over lifetimes – we experience an emergence of something called dhammoja in Pali, the essence of Dharma. In deepening meditation practice, we drop out of the conceptual realm into an energy flow of awareness. Dhammoja is this energy that keeps pushing us to liberation. It is something greater than our limited sense of self.

I had a strong experience of dhammoja during one of my periods of practice in Burma. I had been in Asia for several months and was rapidly losing weight and physical strength. At one point my body became so weak that I would actually topple over from my sitting position. But even in this very weakened bodily condition, the energy from the inner flow of awareness remained so strong that the meditation continued to unfold. It was as if nothing could stop the onward–leading momentum. This experience reminded me of those stories of the Buddha visiting people who were sick or dying. He would often say to them, “Though your body is weak and full of pain, train your mind to stay alert and mindful.” A taste of dhammoja shows us that we can actually do what the Buddha advised.

Another understanding of grace comes from the Buddhist world view that recognizes beings on other planes of existence. In traditional Buddhist cultures people believe that devas, or celestial beings from higher planes, can work to protect, guide, and help us in different situations. The Buddha taught that devas are drawn to us through the power of our virtue and loving kindness. As we cultivate and purify our own morality and love, we open ourselves to receive their positive energy and beneficent help.

You may or may not choose to believe this aspect of Buddhist cosmology. Our freedom does not depend on external things. You can come to full liberation whether or not you find devas credible. But a phrase from Coleridge might suggest a useful attitude: the willing suspension of disbelief. Can we remain open to possibilities of things we do not yet know for ourselves, with neither blind belief nor blind disbelief? Many things that today seem commonplace in our world, one hundred years ago would have been called miracles.

Although strong hidden influences, given the right conditions, can assist us, they cannot accomplish the work of spiritual practice for us. The beneficence of external beings like devas is secondary to the inwardly developed, liberating force of dhammoja and the paramis.

Reflecting on our own paramis can be a great help in practice. The force of delusion is so strong that most beings never see the possibility of coming out of suffering. The very notion that the mind can be purified of greed, hatred, and delusion never even occurs to most people. Only a vast reservoir of parami brings us to practice and creates the motivation and interest to do this difficult, ultimately liberating work. Appreciating the paramis within ourselves can be a cause for great self–respect and joy. Often, in the midst of the many ups and downs of practice, we forget just how powerful the paramis are in each one of us. They engender true grace in our lives.

Does the author believe in the existence of Devas?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Moment– to – moment awareness – that is one accurate way to describe the great enterprise of becoming free. But there are other valid ways to characterize our path. In the broadest conception of the path, in the vast context of spiritual practice, we cultivate and nourish certain qualities that support and propel us forward into freedom. The Pali word ‘parami ‘refers to ten wholesome qualities in our minds and the accumulated power they bring to us: generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, energy, patience, truthfulness, resolve, loving kindness, and equanimity.

The fact that we do not often find the word grace used by schools of Buddhism may allow us to connect with a fresh and immediate sense of the word by looking directly at our own experience. I feel that the paramis are one great influence in our experience that corresponds to the sense of grace, not as a theological doctrine or metaphysical concept but as something we can really feel and know.

The concept of parami reminds me of a line in a poem by Dylan Thomas: “The force that through the green fuse drives the flower.” Parami does not come from some being outside ourselves; rather, it comes from our own gradually accumulated purity. A Buddhist understanding of reliance on a higher power would not necessarily involve reliance on some supernormal being. It is, rather, a reliance on these forces of purity in ourselves that are outside our small, constricted sense of I, and that constitute the source of grace in our lives.

In the long course of evolution in this lifetime and perhaps over many lifetimes, we have generated a power of purity in our mind by acts of generosity and loving kindness, by deepening understanding and wisdom. This power becomes the karmic force that brings blessings in our life. So our own inner development, not an external agent, brings us this grace. Develop and strengthen the paramis within you, and from that source enjoy the blessings that result.

A poem by Galway Kinnell beautifully expresses the grace of blessings from within:

What is the Path?
Saint Francis and the Sow 
The bud 
stands for all things, 
even for those things that don’t flower, 
for everything flowers, from within, of self–blessing;
as Saint Francis 
put his hand on the creased forehead 
of the sow, and told her in words and in touch 
blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow 
began remembering all down her thick length, 
from the earthen snout all the way 
through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail, 
from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine 
down through the great broken heart 
to the sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering 
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and 
blowing beneath them: 
the long, perfect loveliness of sow.

Freedom cannot be found within the contraction of ego identification. The practice of Buddhadharma awakens us to an underlying reality beyond that identification. As the paramis develop through our practice – and they have been developing over lifetimes – we experience an emergence of something called dhammoja in Pali, the essence of Dharma. In deepening meditation practice, we drop out of the conceptual realm into an energy flow of awareness. Dhammoja is this energy that keeps pushing us to liberation. It is something greater than our limited sense of self.

I had a strong experience of dhammoja during one of my periods of practice in Burma. I had been in Asia for several months and was rapidly losing weight and physical strength. At one point my body became so weak that I would actually topple over from my sitting position. But even in this very weakened bodily condition, the energy from the inner flow of awareness remained so strong that the meditation continued to unfold. It was as if nothing could stop the onward–leading momentum. This experience reminded me of those stories of the Buddha visiting people who were sick or dying. He would often say to them, “Though your body is weak and full of pain, train your mind to stay alert and mindful.” A taste of dhammoja shows us that we can actually do what the Buddha advised.

Another understanding of grace comes from the Buddhist world view that recognizes beings on other planes of existence. In traditional Buddhist cultures people believe that devas, or celestial beings from higher planes, can work to protect, guide, and help us in different situations. The Buddha taught that devas are drawn to us through the power of our virtue and loving kindness. As we cultivate and purify our own morality and love, we open ourselves to receive their positive energy and beneficent help.

You may or may not choose to believe this aspect of Buddhist cosmology. Our freedom does not depend on external things. You can come to full liberation whether or not you find devas credible. But a phrase from Coleridge might suggest a useful attitude: the willing suspension of disbelief. Can we remain open to possibilities of things we do not yet know for ourselves, with neither blind belief nor blind disbelief? Many things that today seem commonplace in our world, one hundred years ago would have been called miracles.

Although strong hidden influences, given the right conditions, can assist us, they cannot accomplish the work of spiritual practice for us. The beneficence of external beings like devas is secondary to the inwardly developed, liberating force of dhammoja and the paramis.

Reflecting on our own paramis can be a great help in practice. The force of delusion is so strong that most beings never see the possibility of coming out of suffering. The very notion that the mind can be purified of greed, hatred, and delusion never even occurs to most people. Only a vast reservoir of parami brings us to practice and creates the motivation and interest to do this difficult, ultimately liberating work. Appreciating the paramis within ourselves can be a cause for great self–respect and joy. Often, in the midst of the many ups and downs of practice, we forget just how powerful the paramis are in each one of us. They engender true grace in our lives.

Which among the following statements can be inferred from the passage?

I. Crop failures due to spurious seeds and pesticides were primarily responsible for the suicides committed by the farmers. II. The farmers who shifted from food crops to cash crops were the only ones who were not affected. III. A low germination rate of seed added to the woes of the farmers.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Guntur & Nalgonda (A.P.): "The farmers ask us what seeds to use and we advise them," says Nageswara Rao in the district headquarters of Nalgonda. He works in one of the biggest seed and fertilizer stores in town, owned by a relative of his. "We have no scientific qualification," admits the polite Rao. "We only guide them by experience. We ourselves consult the manufacturers." Seeds, fertilizer and pesticide dealers are at the centre of a growing controversy in Andhra Pradesh. They are the new moneylenders to a peasantry strapped for credit. "The banks have given no loans in the past seven years," says Malla Reddy, general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Ryuthu Sangham (APRS). "So many farmers are forced to depend on sources like these for credit. The same man advises them on what to buy and then sets the rates for the purchase." With the seed dealers charging on hefty interest rates to their credit sales, the problem gets sharper. Nageswara Rao admits to a charge of two per cent a month on bills, but says there is no choice. Times are bad. "Besides, we are quite lenient as we wish to help the farmer. Sometimes, they agree to pay in 60 days but may not do so for 90 to 120 days."

Farmers in Nalgonda's villages are skeptical of this altruism. "Each month's delay adds to the interest," points out P. Bhiksham in G. Edavalli village. Yet, the farmer often goes by the dealer's advice on what products to buy. "The dealer has emerged an `expert', because the others have gone," says Malla Reddy. The APRS leader points to "over 2,800 vacancies in the Department of Agriculture. The last Government only appointed 7,000 unqualified people on contract. They had no background in agriculture." Many of the farmers' suicides in the State have been largely debt driven which makes the seed dealer's role more of a problem. Some of those who took their lives did so because of both, huge debts and crop failures due to spurious seeds and pesticides. But there is little punishment for those selling fake seeds. "Just Rs. 500," says the new Agriculture Minister, Raghuveera Reddy. He hopes to bring some order to a system now out of control. "We have recovered spurious seeds worth Rs. 7 crore in raids in only the past month," he told us. But the offenders are people for whom Rs. 500 fine is a joke. So the Government intends to bring in a new Seed Act at the State level. Andhra Pradesh's record of curbing such fraud in the past has been dismal. "Till date, no case filed by the State against a seed or pesticide dealer has ever been won by the Government," says Yalamanchili Shivaji. He is a former Rajya Sabha MP and a well–known farmers' leader here. "In contrast," he claims, "almost no such case filed by the Tamil Government was lost." Dr. Shivaji also points out that Andhra Pradesh has fewer agriculture and extension officers than any southern State. "The Naidu Government was bent on privatizing extension work," says Malla Reddy. The matter gets more complex given the clout the seed dealers have gained. And the alarming rise in the cost of inputs they control. Per acre costs have exploded since 1996.

As farmers in G. Edavalli explain: The cost of paddy seeds an acre almost tripled from Rs. 120 in 1996 to around Rs. 350 now. That of urea nearly doubled from around 120 then to nearly Rs. 230 now. Pesticide, ammonia phosphate, zinc – all these have more than doubled in cost." A farmer might buy most of these inputs from the same dealer. Other expenses, too, have risen. Tractors cost a lot more than manual work did. "In 1996," say farmers in G. Edavalli, "we could raise an acre of paddy within Rs. 3,500. Today that is Rs. 7,500 or more." Add higher power tariffs and water costs and people are now paying well over double what they did in 1996. Those who left food crops to experiment with cash crops in this period pay still more. The 24 per cent interest that seed dealers tag on makes the burden more worse. And with seed companies hawking a "germination rate" of only 65 per cent, farmers get even less value for money. This is Telangana. Input costs are higher in coastal region where, too, suicides have been on. The use of high cost items such as fertilizers and pesticides is greatest in Andhra Pradesh. The All–India average for fertilizer consumption per hectare was 88 kg in 2001. In Andhra Pradesh it was almost 180 kg. It is even greater in the coastal region. "Over use of fertilizer is a huge problem," says Malla Reddy of the APRS.

"At the same time," he says "tenant farmers faced massive increases in the cost of leasing land." Such tenants make up nearly 60 per cent of all farmers in many parts of the State, more so in the coastal region. From the late 1990s, they were asked by the landlords to pay (as lease cost) between 21 and 25 bags of paddy an acre each year. This, when their output was barely 30 bags an acre. So the tenant farmer is left with five bags of paddy and another three of black gram that he sows after paddy. And that is in a good year!" By the late 1990s, the farmer was wilting. In 1996, "he was making Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 6,000 an acre on an input cost of Rs. 3,500. Now he is making Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 2,000 an acre on cost close to Rs. 8,000. Between then and now, productivity has only risen from 25 to under 30 bags an acre. This huge use of fertilizer has not helped much." "But at the moment when input costs were so high and rewards so poor," says the Nalgonda ex–MLA, Narasimha Reddy, "the banks stopped giving the farmer any credit. And output prices were crashing due to rigged and volatile markets. There was also zero investment in agriculture. This crisis was man–made." That was how the suicides began. "Add drought and crop failure to that," says Reddy, "and the suicides only got worse."

What is the primary purpose of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Guntur & Nalgonda (A.P.): "The farmers ask us what seeds to use and we advise them," says Nageswara Rao in the district headquarters of Nalgonda. He works in one of the biggest seed and fertilizer stores in town, owned by a relative of his. "We have no scientific qualification," admits the polite Rao. "We only guide them by experience. We ourselves consult the manufacturers." Seeds, fertilizer and pesticide dealers are at the centre of a growing controversy in Andhra Pradesh. They are the new moneylenders to a peasantry strapped for credit. "The banks have given no loans in the past seven years," says Malla Reddy, general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Ryuthu Sangham (APRS). "So many farmers are forced to depend on sources like these for credit. The same man advises them on what to buy and then sets the rates for the purchase." With the seed dealers charging on hefty interest rates to their credit sales, the problem gets sharper. Nageswara Rao admits to a charge of two per cent a month on bills, but says there is no choice. Times are bad. "Besides, we are quite lenient as we wish to help the farmer. Sometimes, they agree to pay in 60 days but may not do so for 90 to 120 days."

Farmers in Nalgonda's villages are skeptical of this altruism. "Each month's delay adds to the interest," points out P. Bhiksham in G. Edavalli village. Yet, the farmer often goes by the dealer's advice on what products to buy. "The dealer has emerged an `expert', because the others have gone," says Malla Reddy. The APRS leader points to "over 2,800 vacancies in the Department of Agriculture. The last Government only appointed 7,000 unqualified people on contract. They had no background in agriculture." Many of the farmers' suicides in the State have been largely debt driven which makes the seed dealer's role more of a problem. Some of those who took their lives did so because of both, huge debts and crop failures due to spurious seeds and pesticides. But there is little punishment for those selling fake seeds. "Just Rs. 500," says the new Agriculture Minister, Raghuveera Reddy. He hopes to bring some order to a system now out of control. "We have recovered spurious seeds worth Rs. 7 crore in raids in only the past month," he told us. But the offenders are people for whom Rs. 500 fine is a joke. So the Government intends to bring in a new Seed Act at the State level. Andhra Pradesh's record of curbing such fraud in the past has been dismal. "Till date, no case filed by the State against a seed or pesticide dealer has ever been won by the Government," says Yalamanchili Shivaji. He is a former Rajya Sabha MP and a well–known farmers' leader here. "In contrast," he claims, "almost no such case filed by the Tamil Government was lost." Dr. Shivaji also points out that Andhra Pradesh has fewer agriculture and extension officers than any southern State. "The Naidu Government was bent on privatizing extension work," says Malla Reddy. The matter gets more complex given the clout the seed dealers have gained. And the alarming rise in the cost of inputs they control. Per acre costs have exploded since 1996.

As farmers in G. Edavalli explain: The cost of paddy seeds an acre almost tripled from Rs. 120 in 1996 to around Rs. 350 now. That of urea nearly doubled from around 120 then to nearly Rs. 230 now. Pesticide, ammonia phosphate, zinc – all these have more than doubled in cost." A farmer might buy most of these inputs from the same dealer. Other expenses, too, have risen. Tractors cost a lot more than manual work did. "In 1996," say farmers in G. Edavalli, "we could raise an acre of paddy within Rs. 3,500. Today that is Rs. 7,500 or more." Add higher power tariffs and water costs and people are now paying well over double what they did in 1996. Those who left food crops to experiment with cash crops in this period pay still more. The 24 per cent interest that seed dealers tag on makes the burden more worse. And with seed companies hawking a "germination rate" of only 65 per cent, farmers get even less value for money. This is Telangana. Input costs are higher in coastal region where, too, suicides have been on. The use of high cost items such as fertilizers and pesticides is greatest in Andhra Pradesh. The All–India average for fertilizer consumption per hectare was 88 kg in 2001. In Andhra Pradesh it was almost 180 kg. It is even greater in the coastal region. "Over use of fertilizer is a huge problem," says Malla Reddy of the APRS.

"At the same time," he says "tenant farmers faced massive increases in the cost of leasing land." Such tenants make up nearly 60 per cent of all farmers in many parts of the State, more so in the coastal region. From the late 1990s, they were asked by the landlords to pay (as lease cost) between 21 and 25 bags of paddy an acre each year. This, when their output was barely 30 bags an acre. So the tenant farmer is left with five bags of paddy and another three of black gram that he sows after paddy. And that is in a good year!" By the late 1990s, the farmer was wilting. In 1996, "he was making Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 6,000 an acre on an input cost of Rs. 3,500. Now he is making Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 2,000 an acre on cost close to Rs. 8,000. Between then and now, productivity has only risen from 25 to under 30 bags an acre. This huge use of fertilizer has not helped much." "But at the moment when input costs were so high and rewards so poor," says the Nalgonda ex–MLA, Narasimha Reddy, "the banks stopped giving the farmer any credit. And output prices were crashing due to rigged and volatile markets. There was also zero investment in agriculture. This crisis was man–made." That was how the suicides began. "Add drought and crop failure to that," says Reddy, "and the suicides only got worse."

What does the author assume for Thales and Anaximander?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

If physics leads us today to a worldview that is essentially mystical, it returns, in a way, to its beginning 2,500 years ago. It is interesting to follow the evolution of Western science along its spiral path, starting from the mystical philosophies of the early Greeks, rising and unfolding in an impressive development of intellectual thought that increasingly turned away from its mystical origins to develop a world view which is in sharp contrast to that of the Far East. In its most recent stages, Western science is finally overcoming this view and coming back to those of the early Greek and the Eastern philosophies. This time, however; it is not only based on intuition, but also on experiments of great precision and sophistication, and on a rigorous and consistent mathematical formalism.

The roots of physics, as of all Western science, are to be found in the first period of Greek philosophy in the sixth century B.C., in a culture where science, philosophy and religion were not separated. The sages of the Milesian school in Ionia were not concerned with such distinctions. Their aim was to discover the essential nature, or real constitution, of things that they called ‘physics’. The term ‘physics’ is derived from this Greek word and meant therefore, originally, the endeavor of seeing the essential nature of all things.

This, of course, is also the central aim of all mystics and the philosophy of the Milesian school and indeed havea strong mystical flavor. The Milesians were called ‘hylozoists’, or ‘those who think matter is alive’, by the later Greeks, because they saw no distinction between animate and inanimate, spirit and matter. In fact, they did not even have a word for matter, since they saw all forms of existence as manifestations of the ‘physics’, endowed with life and spirituality. Thus, Thales declared all things to be full of goods and Anaximander saw the universe as a kind of organism which was supported by ‘pneuma’, the cosmic breath, in the same way as the human body is supported by air.

The monistic and organic view of the Milesians was very close to that of ancient Indian and Chinese philosophy, and the parallels to Eastern thought are even stronger in the philosophy of Heraclitus of Ephesus.

What can be the title of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

If physics leads us today to a worldview that is essentially mystical, it returns, in a way, to its beginning 2,500 years ago. It is interesting to follow the evolution of Western science along its spiral path, starting from the mystical philosophies of the early Greeks, rising and unfolding in an impressive development of intellectual thought that increasingly turned away from its mystical origins to develop a world view which is in sharp contrast to that of the Far East. In its most recent stages, Western science is finally overcoming this view and coming back to those of the early Greek and the Eastern philosophies. This time, however; it is not only based on intuition, but also on experiments of great precision and sophistication, and on a rigorous and consistent mathematical formalism.

The roots of physics, as of all Western science, are to be found in the first period of Greek philosophy in the sixth century B.C., in a culture where science, philosophy and religion were not separated. The sages of the Milesian school in Ionia were not concerned with such distinctions. Their aim was to discover the essential nature, or real constitution, of things that they called ‘physics’. The term ‘physics’ is derived from this Greek word and meant therefore, originally, the endeavor of seeing the essential nature of all things.

This, of course, is also the central aim of all mystics and the philosophy of the Milesian school and indeed havea strong mystical flavor. The Milesians were called ‘hylozoists’, or ‘those who think matter is alive’, by the later Greeks, because they saw no distinction between animate and inanimate, spirit and matter. In fact, they did not even have a word for matter, since they saw all forms of existence as manifestations of the ‘physics’, endowed with life and spirituality. Thus, Thales declared all things to be full of goods and Anaximander saw the universe as a kind of organism which was supported by ‘pneuma’, the cosmic breath, in the same way as the human body is supported by air.

The monistic and organic view of the Milesians was very close to that of ancient Indian and Chinese philosophy, and the parallels to Eastern thought are even stronger in the philosophy of Heraclitus of Ephesus.

What is the tone of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

If physics leads us today to a worldview that is essentially mystical, it returns, in a way, to its beginning 2,500 years ago. It is interesting to follow the evolution of Western science along its spiral path, starting from the mystical philosophies of the early Greeks, rising and unfolding in an impressive development of intellectual thought that increasingly turned away from its mystical origins to develop a world view which is in sharp contrast to that of the Far East. In its most recent stages, Western science is finally overcoming this view and coming back to those of the early Greek and the Eastern philosophies. This time, however; it is not only based on intuition, but also on experiments of great precision and sophistication, and on a rigorous and consistent mathematical formalism.

The roots of physics, as of all Western science, are to be found in the first period of Greek philosophy in the sixth century B.C., in a culture where science, philosophy and religion were not separated. The sages of the Milesian school in Ionia were not concerned with such distinctions. Their aim was to discover the essential nature, or real constitution, of things that they called ‘physics’. The term ‘physics’ is derived from this Greek word and meant therefore, originally, the endeavor of seeing the essential nature of all things.

This, of course, is also the central aim of all mystics and the philosophy of the Milesian school and indeed havea strong mystical flavor. The Milesians were called ‘hylozoists’, or ‘those who think matter is alive’, by the later Greeks, because they saw no distinction between animate and inanimate, spirit and matter. In fact, they did not even have a word for matter, since they saw all forms of existence as manifestations of the ‘physics’, endowed with life and spirituality. Thus, Thales declared all things to be full of goods and Anaximander saw the universe as a kind of organism which was supported by ‘pneuma’, the cosmic breath, in the same way as the human body is supported by air.

The monistic and organic view of the Milesians was very close to that of ancient Indian and Chinese philosophy, and the parallels to Eastern thought are even stronger in the philosophy of Heraclitus of Ephesus.

With what the author is most likely to disagree?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Moment– to – moment awareness – that is one accurate way to describe the great enterprise of becoming free. But there are other valid ways to characterize our path. In the broadest conception of the path, in the vast context of spiritual practice, we cultivate and nourish certain qualities that support and propel us forward into freedom. The Pali word ‘parami ‘refers to ten wholesome qualities in our minds and the accumulated power they bring to us: generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, energy, patience, truthfulness, resolve, loving kindness, and equanimity.

The fact that we do not often find the word grace used by schools of Buddhism may allow us to connect with a fresh and immediate sense of the word by looking directly at our own experience. I feel that the paramis are one great influence in our experience that corresponds to the sense of grace, not as a theological doctrine or metaphysical concept but as something we can really feel and know.

The concept of parami reminds me of a line in a poem by Dylan Thomas: “The force that through the green fuse drives the flower.” Parami does not come from some being outside ourselves; rather, it comes from our own gradually accumulated purity. A Buddhist understanding of reliance on a higher power would not necessarily involve reliance on some supernormal being. It is, rather, a reliance on these forces of purity in ourselves that are outside our small, constricted sense of I, and that constitute the source of grace in our lives.

In the long course of evolution in this lifetime and perhaps over many lifetimes, we have generated a power of purity in our mind by acts of generosity and loving kindness, by deepening understanding and wisdom. This power becomes the karmic force that brings blessings in our life. So our own inner development, not an external agent, brings us this grace. Develop and strengthen the paramis within you, and from that source enjoy the blessings that result.

A poem by Galway Kinnell beautifully expresses the grace of blessings from within:

What is the Path?
Saint Francis and the Sow 
The bud 
stands for all things, 
even for those things that don’t flower, 
for everything flowers, from within, of self–blessing;
as Saint Francis 
put his hand on the creased forehead 
of the sow, and told her in words and in touch 
blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow 
began remembering all down her thick length, 
from the earthen snout all the way 
through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail, 
from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine 
down through the great broken heart 
to the sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering 
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and 
blowing beneath them: 
the long, perfect loveliness of sow.

Freedom cannot be found within the contraction of ego identification. The practice of Buddhadharma awakens us to an underlying reality beyond that identification. As the paramis develop through our practice – and they have been developing over lifetimes – we experience an emergence of something called dhammoja in Pali, the essence of Dharma. In deepening meditation practice, we drop out of the conceptual realm into an energy flow of awareness. Dhammoja is this energy that keeps pushing us to liberation. It is something greater than our limited sense of self.

I had a strong experience of dhammoja during one of my periods of practice in Burma. I had been in Asia for several months and was rapidly losing weight and physical strength. At one point my body became so weak that I would actually topple over from my sitting position. But even in this very weakened bodily condition, the energy from the inner flow of awareness remained so strong that the meditation continued to unfold. It was as if nothing could stop the onward–leading momentum. This experience reminded me of those stories of the Buddha visiting people who were sick or dying. He would often say to them, “Though your body is weak and full of pain, train your mind to stay alert and mindful.” A taste of dhammoja shows us that we can actually do what the Buddha advised.

Another understanding of grace comes from the Buddhist world view that recognizes beings on other planes of existence. In traditional Buddhist cultures people believe that devas, or celestial beings from higher planes, can work to protect, guide, and help us in different situations. The Buddha taught that devas are drawn to us through the power of our virtue and loving kindness. As we cultivate and purify our own morality and love, we open ourselves to receive their positive energy and beneficent help.

You may or may not choose to believe this aspect of Buddhist cosmology. Our freedom does not depend on external things. You can come to full liberation whether or not you find devas credible. But a phrase from Coleridge might suggest a useful attitude: the willing suspension of disbelief. Can we remain open to possibilities of things we do not yet know for ourselves, with neither blind belief nor blind disbelief? Many things that today seem commonplace in our world, one hundred years ago would have been called miracles.

Although strong hidden influences, given the right conditions, can assist us, they cannot accomplish the work of spiritual practice for us. The beneficence of external beings like devas is secondary to the inwardly developed, liberating force of dhammoja and the paramis.

Reflecting on our own paramis can be a great help in practice. The force of delusion is so strong that most beings never see the possibility of coming out of suffering. The very notion that the mind can be purified of greed, hatred, and delusion never even occurs to most people. Only a vast reservoir of parami brings us to practice and creates the motivation and interest to do this difficult, ultimately liberating work. Appreciating the paramis within ourselves can be a cause for great self–respect and joy. Often, in the midst of the many ups and downs of practice, we forget just how powerful the paramis are in each one of us. They engender true grace in our lives.

All of the following statements can be inferred from the passage, except ________.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Guntur & Nalgonda (A.P.): "The farmers ask us what seeds to use and we advise them," says Nageswara Rao in the district headquarters of Nalgonda. He works in one of the biggest seed and fertilizer stores in town, owned by a relative of his. "We have no scientific qualification," admits the polite Rao. "We only guide them by experience. We ourselves consult the manufacturers." Seeds, fertilizer and pesticide dealers are at the centre of a growing controversy in Andhra Pradesh. They are the new moneylenders to a peasantry strapped for credit. "The banks have given no loans in the past seven years," says Malla Reddy, general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Ryuthu Sangham (APRS). "So many farmers are forced to depend on sources like these for credit. The same man advises them on what to buy and then sets the rates for the purchase." With the seed dealers charging on hefty interest rates to their credit sales, the problem gets sharper. Nageswara Rao admits to a charge of two per cent a month on bills, but says there is no choice. Times are bad. "Besides, we are quite lenient as we wish to help the farmer. Sometimes, they agree to pay in 60 days but may not do so for 90 to 120 days."

Farmers in Nalgonda's villages are skeptical of this altruism. "Each month's delay adds to the interest," points out P. Bhiksham in G. Edavalli village. Yet, the farmer often goes by the dealer's advice on what products to buy. "The dealer has emerged an `expert', because the others have gone," says Malla Reddy. The APRS leader points to "over 2,800 vacancies in the Department of Agriculture. The last Government only appointed 7,000 unqualified people on contract. They had no background in agriculture." Many of the farmers' suicides in the State have been largely debt driven which makes the seed dealer's role more of a problem. Some of those who took their lives did so because of both, huge debts and crop failures due to spurious seeds and pesticides. But there is little punishment for those selling fake seeds. "Just Rs. 500," says the new Agriculture Minister, Raghuveera Reddy. He hopes to bring some order to a system now out of control. "We have recovered spurious seeds worth Rs. 7 crore in raids in only the past month," he told us. But the offenders are people for whom Rs. 500 fine is a joke. So the Government intends to bring in a new Seed Act at the State level. Andhra Pradesh's record of curbing such fraud in the past has been dismal. "Till date, no case filed by the State against a seed or pesticide dealer has ever been won by the Government," says Yalamanchili Shivaji. He is a former Rajya Sabha MP and a well–known farmers' leader here. "In contrast," he claims, "almost no such case filed by the Tamil Government was lost." Dr. Shivaji also points out that Andhra Pradesh has fewer agriculture and extension officers than any southern State. "The Naidu Government was bent on privatizing extension work," says Malla Reddy. The matter gets more complex given the clout the seed dealers have gained. And the alarming rise in the cost of inputs they control. Per acre costs have exploded since 1996.

As farmers in G. Edavalli explain: The cost of paddy seeds an acre almost tripled from Rs. 120 in 1996 to around Rs. 350 now. That of urea nearly doubled from around 120 then to nearly Rs. 230 now. Pesticide, ammonia phosphate, zinc – all these have more than doubled in cost." A farmer might buy most of these inputs from the same dealer. Other expenses, too, have risen. Tractors cost a lot more than manual work did. "In 1996," say farmers in G. Edavalli, "we could raise an acre of paddy within Rs. 3,500. Today that is Rs. 7,500 or more." Add higher power tariffs and water costs and people are now paying well over double what they did in 1996. Those who left food crops to experiment with cash crops in this period pay still more. The 24 per cent interest that seed dealers tag on makes the burden more worse. And with seed companies hawking a "germination rate" of only 65 per cent, farmers get even less value for money. This is Telangana. Input costs are higher in coastal region where, too, suicides have been on. The use of high cost items such as fertilizers and pesticides is greatest in Andhra Pradesh. The All–India average for fertilizer consumption per hectare was 88 kg in 2001. In Andhra Pradesh it was almost 180 kg. It is even greater in the coastal region. "Over use of fertilizer is a huge problem," says Malla Reddy of the APRS.

"At the same time," he says "tenant farmers faced massive increases in the cost of leasing land." Such tenants make up nearly 60 per cent of all farmers in many parts of the State, more so in the coastal region. From the late 1990s, they were asked by the landlords to pay (as lease cost) between 21 and 25 bags of paddy an acre each year. This, when their output was barely 30 bags an acre. So the tenant farmer is left with five bags of paddy and another three of black gram that he sows after paddy. And that is in a good year!" By the late 1990s, the farmer was wilting. In 1996, "he was making Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 6,000 an acre on an input cost of Rs. 3,500. Now he is making Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 2,000 an acre on cost close to Rs. 8,000. Between then and now, productivity has only risen from 25 to under 30 bags an acre. This huge use of fertilizer has not helped much." "But at the moment when input costs were so high and rewards so poor," says the Nalgonda ex–MLA, Narasimha Reddy, "the banks stopped giving the farmer any credit. And output prices were crashing due to rigged and volatile markets. There was also zero investment in agriculture. This crisis was man–made." That was how the suicides began. "Add drought and crop failure to that," says Reddy, "and the suicides only got worse."

Early Greek philosophers were considered by the later Greeks as more ______.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

If physics leads us today to a worldview that is essentially mystical, it returns, in a way, to its beginning 2,500 years ago. It is interesting to follow the evolution of Western science along its spiral path, starting from the mystical philosophies of the early Greeks, rising and unfolding in an impressive development of intellectual thought that increasingly turned away from its mystical origins to develop a world view which is in sharp contrast to that of the Far East. In its most recent stages, Western science is finally overcoming this view and coming back to those of the early Greek and the Eastern philosophies. This time, however; it is not only based on intuition, but also on experiments of great precision and sophistication, and on a rigorous and consistent mathematical formalism.

The roots of physics, as of all Western science, are to be found in the first period of Greek philosophy in the sixth century B.C., in a culture where science, philosophy and religion were not separated. The sages of the Milesian school in Ionia were not concerned with such distinctions. Their aim was to discover the essential nature, or real constitution, of things that they called ‘physics’. The term ‘physics’ is derived from this Greek word and meant therefore, originally, the endeavor of seeing the essential nature of all things.

This, of course, is also the central aim of all mystics and the philosophy of the Milesian school and indeed havea strong mystical flavor. The Milesians were called ‘hylozoists’, or ‘those who think matter is alive’, by the later Greeks, because they saw no distinction between animate and inanimate, spirit and matter. In fact, they did not even have a word for matter, since they saw all forms of existence as manifestations of the ‘physics’, endowed with life and spirituality. Thus, Thales declared all things to be full of goods and Anaximander saw the universe as a kind of organism which was supported by ‘pneuma’, the cosmic breath, in the same way as the human body is supported by air.

The monistic and organic view of the Milesians was very close to that of ancient Indian and Chinese philosophy, and the parallels to Eastern thought are even stronger in the philosophy of Heraclitus of Ephesus.

Select from the following statements, the option that best states the function of paragraph 2.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Guntur & Nalgonda (A.P.): "The farmers ask us what seeds to use and we advise them," says Nageswara Rao in the district headquarters of Nalgonda. He works in one of the biggest seed and fertilizer stores in town, owned by a relative of his. "We have no scientific qualification," admits the polite Rao. "We only guide them by experience. We ourselves consult the manufacturers." Seeds, fertilizer and pesticide dealers are at the centre of a growing controversy in Andhra Pradesh. They are the new moneylenders to a peasantry strapped for credit. "The banks have given no loans in the past seven years," says Malla Reddy, general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Ryuthu Sangham (APRS). "So many farmers are forced to depend on sources like these for credit. The same man advises them on what to buy and then sets the rates for the purchase." With the seed dealers charging on hefty interest rates to their credit sales, the problem gets sharper. Nageswara Rao admits to a charge of two per cent a month on bills, but says there is no choice. Times are bad. "Besides, we are quite lenient as we wish to help the farmer. Sometimes, they agree to pay in 60 days but may not do so for 90 to 120 days."

Farmers in Nalgonda's villages are skeptical of this altruism. "Each month's delay adds to the interest," points out P. Bhiksham in G. Edavalli village. Yet, the farmer often goes by the dealer's advice on what products to buy. "The dealer has emerged an `expert', because the others have gone," says Malla Reddy. The APRS leader points to "over 2,800 vacancies in the Department of Agriculture. The last Government only appointed 7,000 unqualified people on contract. They had no background in agriculture." Many of the farmers' suicides in the State have been largely debt driven which makes the seed dealer's role more of a problem. Some of those who took their lives did so because of both, huge debts and crop failures due to spurious seeds and pesticides. But there is little punishment for those selling fake seeds. "Just Rs. 500," says the new Agriculture Minister, Raghuveera Reddy. He hopes to bring some order to a system now out of control. "We have recovered spurious seeds worth Rs. 7 crore in raids in only the past month," he told us. But the offenders are people for whom Rs. 500 fine is a joke. So the Government intends to bring in a new Seed Act at the State level. Andhra Pradesh's record of curbing such fraud in the past has been dismal. "Till date, no case filed by the State against a seed or pesticide dealer has ever been won by the Government," says Yalamanchili Shivaji. He is a former Rajya Sabha MP and a well–known farmers' leader here. "In contrast," he claims, "almost no such case filed by the Tamil Government was lost." Dr. Shivaji also points out that Andhra Pradesh has fewer agriculture and extension officers than any southern State. "The Naidu Government was bent on privatizing extension work," says Malla Reddy. The matter gets more complex given the clout the seed dealers have gained. And the alarming rise in the cost of inputs they control. Per acre costs have exploded since 1996.

As farmers in G. Edavalli explain: The cost of paddy seeds an acre almost tripled from Rs. 120 in 1996 to around Rs. 350 now. That of urea nearly doubled from around 120 then to nearly Rs. 230 now. Pesticide, ammonia phosphate, zinc – all these have more than doubled in cost." A farmer might buy most of these inputs from the same dealer. Other expenses, too, have risen. Tractors cost a lot more than manual work did. "In 1996," say farmers in G. Edavalli, "we could raise an acre of paddy within Rs. 3,500. Today that is Rs. 7,500 or more." Add higher power tariffs and water costs and people are now paying well over double what they did in 1996. Those who left food crops to experiment with cash crops in this period pay still more. The 24 per cent interest that seed dealers tag on makes the burden more worse. And with seed companies hawking a "germination rate" of only 65 per cent, farmers get even less value for money. This is Telangana. Input costs are higher in coastal region where, too, suicides have been on. The use of high cost items such as fertilizers and pesticides is greatest in Andhra Pradesh. The All–India average for fertilizer consumption per hectare was 88 kg in 2001. In Andhra Pradesh it was almost 180 kg. It is even greater in the coastal region. "Over use of fertilizer is a huge problem," says Malla Reddy of the APRS.

"At the same time," he says "tenant farmers faced massive increases in the cost of leasing land." Such tenants make up nearly 60 per cent of all farmers in many parts of the State, more so in the coastal region. From the late 1990s, they were asked by the landlords to pay (as lease cost) between 21 and 25 bags of paddy an acre each year. This, when their output was barely 30 bags an acre. So the tenant farmer is left with five bags of paddy and another three of black gram that he sows after paddy. And that is in a good year!" By the late 1990s, the farmer was wilting. In 1996, "he was making Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 6,000 an acre on an input cost of Rs. 3,500. Now he is making Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 2,000 an acre on cost close to Rs. 8,000. Between then and now, productivity has only risen from 25 to under 30 bags an acre. This huge use of fertilizer has not helped much." "But at the moment when input costs were so high and rewards so poor," says the Nalgonda ex–MLA, Narasimha Reddy, "the banks stopped giving the farmer any credit. And output prices were crashing due to rigged and volatile markets. There was also zero investment in agriculture. This crisis was man–made." That was how the suicides began. "Add drought and crop failure to that," says Reddy, "and the suicides only got worse."

Who can be author of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

If physics leads us today to a worldview that is essentially mystical, it returns, in a way, to its beginning 2,500 years ago. It is interesting to follow the evolution of Western science along its spiral path, starting from the mystical philosophies of the early Greeks, rising and unfolding in an impressive development of intellectual thought that increasingly turned away from its mystical origins to develop a world view which is in sharp contrast to that of the Far East. In its most recent stages, Western science is finally overcoming this view and coming back to those of the early Greek and the Eastern philosophies. This time, however; it is not only based on intuition, but also on experiments of great precision and sophistication, and on a rigorous and consistent mathematical formalism.

The roots of physics, as of all Western science, are to be found in the first period of Greek philosophy in the sixth century B.C., in a culture where science, philosophy and religion were not separated. The sages of the Milesian school in Ionia were not concerned with such distinctions. Their aim was to discover the essential nature, or real constitution, of things that they called ‘physics’. The term ‘physics’ is derived from this Greek word and meant therefore, originally, the endeavor of seeing the essential nature of all things.

This, of course, is also the central aim of all mystics and the philosophy of the Milesian school and indeed havea strong mystical flavor. The Milesians were called ‘hylozoists’, or ‘those who think matter is alive’, by the later Greeks, because they saw no distinction between animate and inanimate, spirit and matter. In fact, they did not even have a word for matter, since they saw all forms of existence as manifestations of the ‘physics’, endowed with life and spirituality. Thus, Thales declared all things to be full of goods and Anaximander saw the universe as a kind of organism which was supported by ‘pneuma’, the cosmic breath, in the same way as the human body is supported by air.

The monistic and organic view of the Milesians was very close to that of ancient Indian and Chinese philosophy, and the parallels to Eastern thought are even stronger in the philosophy of Heraclitus of Ephesus.